How much Cardio for an OBESE dude??

[Lucius Vorenus]

My neighbor started training with me, 5'10, 380lbs, about 50% bf id assume.

Anyway this dude has been yoyoing his whole life with diets. I finally got him off his diets and into eating right.

50% protein/25%fat/25%carbs

He is losing weight but I need to get him on a cardio program. Right now I have him walking 20 mins every morning when he first wakes up. 4x a week. I figured this is a great start for an obese person.

Whats next?? I was thinking about having him do some HIIT training type cardio 2x a week by working the heavy bag in 30 second increments.

Thoughts?

 

[musclemom]

Your highest priority is not killing him followed by not allowing him to push himself so hard he ends up with foot or ankle or (particularly) knee injuries. Has he had a physical, in particular has his heart been checked out? Do you really want this man keeling over on you while you have him running sprints? You can't go all Biggest Loser on him, they have a medical staff and people sign waivers. If he's seeing steady results, that's progress, nothing wrong with that.

HIIT is for way down the road, you need to build his endurance up, probably get him under 300 before you even think about more aggressive stuff, which is for when he plateaus or stalls. For the short term, think adding biking and/or aquatics, in addition to slowly increasing the length and intensity of the walking.

 

[thebigoz]

Whats next?? I was thinking about having him do some HIIT training type cardio 2x a week by working the heavy bag in 30 second increments.

Thoughts?

NO!

I would be very careful with how you work him. I would have him wearing a heart rate monitor during cardio. Keep him in his target fat burning heart rate range, NOTHING HIGHER.

20min cardio 4 times a week is perfect for someone in his condition. Just make sure the cardio is kept at the correct pace.

If he eats right and does that amount of cardio within the correct heart rate range, he will melt off a lot of fat, fast.

Remember, with someone that has that amount of body fat, you don't need to push them hard. Eating right alone would result in some serious fat loss.

 

[Lucius Vorenus]

I do have him wearing a HR monitor. Polar F6. I have the same one.

He is 35. Im using 185 as his MAX HR. I have him trying to keep his HR around 115-125 while walking daily. He has lost 15lbs this month so far. We are 4 weeks in.

The only thing im not sure of is if the HR monitor is to be using the default VO of 41. Anyone know?

 

[the_clockwork]

VERY light cardio, don't over do it... he needs to cut 20-40 lbs eating right before you start cardio..

2ndly... HIIT on a guy that weighes 380? wtf are you smoking?

3rdly... is your "neighbor" you? no reason to be ashamed... glad you are making a change in life, you will feel a lot better.. if he really is your neighbor, I'd spend more time helping him understand the importance of dieting before pushing cardio on him... a guy that size could seriously injure something doing minor cardio

 

[Lucius Vorenus]

Ok. This guy is 5"10, not 5'2. He is not ROUND. He is a big fuckin dude. Never been below 280 in his life. That is his weight he was as a teen and in college. He wrestled and was a powerlifter. He has been checked out by a Dr and is good to go.

Im all about Heart Rate personally and have stressed to him the importance of watching that and keeping it LOW IMPACT until he is under 300.

 

[mystic_man]

I would constantly switch machines up as well, incline walk, next day elliptical, next day steps, next day arm rotations, keep it constantly changing and keep the body guessing, that way there will be no adaptation, unless your patterns over the long term are repetitive.

 

[XOXOXO]

elliptical man. u can do longer periods of time and rachet up the resistance as you go along. that way he will have no issues w/ joint pain due to lack of impact.
cut carbs more.